Obituary Record

Leo P. Williams
Died on 6/27/1926

Tribune 1 July 1926

DEAF MAN KILLED BY TRAIN BURIED IN BLAIR

Struck by M. & O. Passenger Train While Walking Along Railroad Track

Services Held Tuesday

Was Forty-Eight Years Old and Unmarried

A man identified as Leo Williams of Florence, Nebraska, was instantly killed early Monday morning when he was struck by a C., St. P. M. & O. passenger train at the Swallow bank curve, two miles north of DeSoto station. The identification was made through a slip of paper, found in his pockets, bearing the name and address of a brother, John Williams, who also lives in Florence.

According to officials of the railway company, the man was walking north along the track, apparently unaware of the approach of the train. E. C. Bondell, superintendent of this branch of the M. & O. was among the passengers and reports that the whistle was blown a number of times, but that the man took no heed of the warning. Every effort to stop the engine was made, according to Mr. Blondell, and the train came to a stop about three lengths past the scene of the accident.

Williams was thrown about ten feet off the track and died instantly, nearly every bone in his body being broken. The body was brought to Blair on the train, where it was turned over to J. E. Campbell, who found the slip of paper in the man’s pocket. The dead man’s two brothers, John Williams of Florence, and another, who lives in Benson, identified the body on Monday afternoon and made arrangements for burial. Funeral services were held in Blair on Tuesday afternoon at the Catholic church, where Rev. C. A. Beyersdorfer held a short service. The dead man’s mother and his brother, Jake Williams, of Benson, and another brother, John Williams, his wife and two children, of Florence, were the only relatives attending the funeral. Williams was unmarried. Among the neighbors and friends of Mr. Williams who attended the funeral were Grant L. Fox, of Florence, a former resident of Washington county. Mr. Fox is authority for the statement that the deceased man was entirely deaf and that he was on his way to Tekamah, where he was to rejoin a dredging gang, for whom he had been working recently.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~

FindaGrave 130649288

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